How to Play

Game Basics

2008 Fantasy Baseball 101: Introduction to the Game

Overview

2008 Fantasy Baseball is a fantasy baseball game where users become the general manager of their own team comprised of professional baseball players. The object of the game is to score as many fantasy points as possible by assembling a team of MLB players.

The better the players on your team perform in real-life regular season games, the more points they will score for your fantasy baseball team. To win the 2008 Fantasy Baseball Championship, you need to score the most points over the course of the season. If you score the most points in a single week or month, you have the potential to win other prizes or bragging rights in your private leagues.

What makes our Fantasy Baseball different from other fantasy games is the use of a global trading floor, which is like a stock market where player prices move based on supply and demand. Managers start out with a budget of 300 fantasy dollars to use in assembling their team in our one-of-a-kind pre-season trading floor, which will be open between March 1 and March 23. During the pre-season, teams can buy and sell players at fixed prices.

On March 24, the trading floor opens and managers can freely trade players in an effort to field the best team each week. From then on prices for players will begin to fluctuate based on supply and demand. The MLB season starts on Tuesday, March 25, when Oakland takes on Boston in Tokyo.

Trading Floor and Roster

Teams

Every person is allowed to have one team which he or she will manage throughout the season. The team will automatically be entered into the 2008 Fantasy Baseball Championship contest and be eligible to win a New Car and other prizes. (See our contest rules for eligibility requirements and additional terms and conditions.)

Users can also enter their team into a number of optional private and public leagues. (See optional leagues section below.)

Scoring

2008 Fantasy Baseball Championship uses a points-based scoring system with the following points awarded for each statistical category:

	Batting Categories		Points
	Runs	R	3.00
	Singles	1B	2.50
	Double	2B	5.00
	Triple	3B	7.50
	Home Run	HR	10.00
	RBI	RBI	3.00
	Outs	Outs	-1.10
	Walks	BB	1.66
	Strikeouts	K	-0.75
	Stolen Bases	SB	5.00
	Caught Stealing	CS	-2.00
Pitching Categories			Points
Innings Pitched		IP	7.50
Wins		W	20.00
Saves		SV	15.00
Loss		L	-6.50
Hits Allowed		H	-3.00
Earned Runs		ER	-6.00
Walks		BB	-1.66
Strikeouts		K	1.85

Tiebreaker categories are listed below in descending order of importance:

1. Team's overall batting average

2. Team's overall ERA

3. Total Home Runs

4. Total Wins for Pitcher

5. Total Saves

6. Total Strike Outs by batter (the fewer the better)

7. Total Strike Outs by pitcher (more is better)

In an extremely unlikely event that the tied teams are still tied after these 7 categories are considered, then these teams shall remain tied, and will split the value of the prize equally.

Initial Game Setup

Team Positions (Updated!)

Each team has the following fifteen starting positions and three (3) bench spots (BN):

                                    1 Catcher (C)
                                    1 First Baseman (1B)
                                    1 Second Baseman (2B)
                                    1 Shortstop (SS)
                                    1 Third Baseman (3B)
                                    3 Outfielders (OF)
                                    1 Utility Batting Position (UTIL)
                                    4 Starting Pitchers (SP)
                                    2 Relief Pitchers (RP)

Bench positions can be used to provide back-ups in case a starter is facing a tough match-up or to hold starting pitchers during their rotations. Managers are not required to field a full 15 player starting team if they think they can earn more points playing with a “light” team, or if few MLB teams are playing on a particular day.

Starting Budget

Each manager is given an initial budget of 300 fantasy dollars to purchase players for their team. This game money is only used within 2008 Fantasy Baseball and has no value outside of the game.

Pre-season Trading Floor (New!)

After creating a team, managers can go immediately to the pre-season trading floor to starting buying players. During the pre-season trading period (March 1 to March 23), managers can buy and sell players as often as they want at fixed prices and without transaction fees. Initially, only approximately 200 players will be available on the trading floor. Then as opening day draws nearer, additional players and rookies will be released on to the trading floor as initial public offerings (IPOs).

Player IPO Schedule

Category	Prices Finalized	IPO Date
Initial 200 Core Players	Saturday, March 1, 2008	Saturday, March 1, 2008
Studs and Duds (Top 20 players and role players)	Wednesday, March 12, 2008	Friday, March 14, 2008
Rookies and the Rest	Wednesday, March 19, 2008	Friday, March 21, 2008

Roughly one of each player will be available for every twelve teams. Throughout the season as more teams are created more of each player will become available for purchase.

Once the inventory of an individual player is gone, the player will be marked as sold out and will not available for purchase.

Market Hours (Updated!): The Pre-season Trading Floor is open 7 days a week 24 hours a day. Trading may be halted temporarily for 3-5 minutes at the top of each hour to allow us to make market adjustments.

Team Management

Once the season starts, managers have to place a player in a starting position at least 10 minutes before his MLB team is scheduled to start in order to get credit for his on field performance. After this point, the player cannot be moved to a bench position or sold until the opening of trading the following morning.

Roster

The Team History link shows every player who has started on your team and the game statistics each player earned for you. This page also details buy and sell prices as well as the gains and losses of all the players you have owned.

Position Usage (Updated!)

Each starting batting position has a maximum of 162 games for the season. For pitchers, 1,100 innings pitched are allowed for the season. After the maximum number of games or innings pitched has been reached for a position, a team cannot earn any more points at that position for the rest of the season.

Pitching Position Changes (New!)

A pitcher is designated as starting pitcher if he was a starting pitcher during the 2007 season. Any pitcher who did not start during the 2007 season will be designated as a relief pitcher. No player will be designated as both a starter and a reliever. We will periodically update pitcher designations as needed.

After pitcher designations are updated, managers will have to move the pitcher to a correct position or to their bench the next time they make a roster move.

Trading Players

2008 Fantasy Baseball uses an open market for managers to buy and sell players. During the Pre-season, a player's value is primarily based on his projected performance, but once the market opens March 24 a player's price will be determined by the buying and selling pressures of the market.

As more managers buy a player, his price goes up. If more managers are selling a player, his price goes down. Since player prices will go up and down, the value of each team may also go up and down as the season progresses. Just remember, a player's monetary value doesn't count toward a team's score, and that shrewd roster management is the key to success.

Trading Floor

Market Hours (Updated!): The Trading Floor is open 7 days a week from 9:00 am to 12:00 am Midnight Pacific time. Trading may be halted temporarily for 3-5 minutes at the top of each hour to allow us to make market adjustments.

Transaction Fees: After a manager has made his first 16 purchases or after he has spent his initial 300 fantasy dollar budget, a transaction fee is charged each time a player is bought or sold according to the following schedule:

Team Value	Transaction Fee
<= 350.00 Fantasy Dollars	0.10 Fantasy Dollars
350.01 to 375.00 Fantasy Dollars	0.75 Fantasy Dollars
375.01 to 400.00 Fantasy Dollars	1.00 Fantasy Dollars
400.01 to 425.00 Fantasy Dollars	1.50 Fantasy Dollars
425.01 to 450.00 Fantasy Dollars	2.50 Fantasy Dollars
>= 450.01 Fantasy Dollars	4.50 Fantasy Dollars

Five-Day Starting Pitcher Waiver Period (New!): If a manager buys any Starting Pitcher and starts him during the five day waiver period, she can’t sell him until the end of the period. If the manager never starts the pitcher, she can sell him at anytime. The Waiver Period begins on the date of purchase, not the date of the start.

For example, if a manager buys Johan Santana on Monday afternoon, then starts him on Wednesday. Once Santana locks into the starting position 10 minutes before the game, the manager will not be able to sell him until the market opens on Saturday. If Santana never locks into a game, the manager can sell him at any time. Also, if you keep the SP on your team after the initial 5 day Waiver Period, you can sell them at anytime once the period has concluded.

Watch List Tool: Part of our Premium Service, this tool allows managers to track players they are considering buying for their team. It also shows game statistics and pricing information.

Minimum Team Value (New!)
Like real world markets, it’s possible to both gain and lose money when players are bought and sold on the trading floor. So, managers need to develop strategies for both maintaining their team values and starting the players that will score them the most fantasy points.

To ensure that nobody gets knocked out of the game with a few unlucky roster moves, there will be a minimum team value of 250 fantasy dollars. If a team falls below the minimum at the close of trading on Thursday, the team’s balance will be increased to meet the minimum Friday morning. This amount will show up as revenue sharing in the Team History page.

Leagues and Contests

Our 2008 Fantasy Baseball game allows each team to participate in an unlimited number of leagues and contests while simultaneously competing with the world in the Championship Contest.

We offer several different types of leagues and contests to satisfy the competitive needs of all the team managers:

Type	Why Enroll?	How to Enroll
2008 Fantasy Baseball Championship Contest	Everyone is automatically enrolled. Compete against your friends, colleagues and the world for full season prizes and bragging rights.	All new teams that are created during the first half of the season are automatically enrolled
2008 Fantasy Baseball Championship Monthly Contest	Everyone is automatically enrolled. Compete against your friends, colleagues and the world for full season prizes and bragging rights.	All new teams that are created during the first half of the season are automatically enrolled
Private Leagues	FREE, flexible leagues that allow managers to compete against an unlimited number friends, classmates, and colleague for bragging rights. Commissioners control the start and end dates and who can join the league. Private leagues can be created at any time during the season.	Enter League Id and Password from the Join Leagues Page. League commissioners can setup a new private league from the create leagues page. There is no limit to the number of private leagues a manager can join or create.
Paid Leagues	Match up with 9 other randomly assigned players to complete for cash prizes. A variety of entry fees and prizes levels are available.	Go to the Join Leagues page. Limit to one paid league tier per manager.
Jackpot Leagues	For a single entry fee, This is a competition for all the 2008 Fantasy Baseball Championship managers that think they know baseball. Every manager competes in a single league with guaranteed cash prizes.	Go to the Join Leagues page. Limit to one entry per manager.
Free Bragging Rights Leagues	Free public leagues that are limited in size. If you want to try out your fantasy skills against a small group of other managers, but don’t want to put any cash on the line, this is the league for you.	Go to the Join Leagues page. Limit to two entries per manager.

All new teams that are created during the first half of the season are automatically enrolled.

Private Leagues: From the Join Leagues page, managers who want to be the commissioner of their own league can create a standard private league. Within this page, managers can click the "Create League" button, where they will then be directed to the create league page. From there, the manager will create the league name, password, and can also specify the start and end dates for the league. The commissioner also has the ability to upload a league photo, remove players from the league, and edit the Commissioner's note on the league home page.

Standings Pages: Once within a league or contest, managers can go to the Standings page to see how they are doing in all of their leagues and contests. There are three standings pages: 1) My League Standings 2) My Contest Standings 3) Standings. The My League Standings displays a list of all the leagues in which that manager is in. Likewise, the My Contest Standings displays all the contests the manager is in. Additionally, the Standings page displays the list and rank of all the leagues and contests that manager is in.

Prizes

In addition to competing against your friends or colleagues in private leagues, teams can also compete against the larger 2008 Fantasy Baseball Championship community in a number of other leagues and contests.

2008 Fantasy Baseball Championship

The highest scoring team in the Championship League will earn the title of the 2008 Fantasy Baseball Champion and drive home in a New Ford Mustang! (See prize page for other prizes)

Monthly Contests

The highest scoring teams each month will earn some fantastic prizes. Monthly contests will be run from April to August. (See prize page)

Monthly Premium User Contest

This season we have given our users another reason to purchase our premium services. Along with all of the wonderful tools that you are able to use each premium user will also be entered into a Monthly Contest made up of only Premium players. (See prize page)

Golden Ticket Referral Awards

Again this season will be rewarding any user that refers their friends to our game. The more friends you refer, the better your prize! (See prize page)

We may offer additional contests and promotions throughout the season.

Secondary Teams

Managers will only be allowed to field one team at the beginning of the season. This team will be automatically entered into global league and can be entered into other leagues and contests.

Starting later in the season, we may allow users to create additional teams. These teams might not be eligible for the 2008 Fantasy Baseball Championship, but would be allowed to enter other private leagues and other second half leagues and contests. Be on the lookout for more details.

Game Basics

2008 Fantasy Baseball 101: Introduction to the Game